When Sachin Tendulkar made his First-Class debut at the age of mere 15, the Cricketing fraternity had no clue whatsoever that arguably the greatest Indian Cricketer of all time has arrived, and is here to stay and shatter almost all the records possible in the batting department.
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At the iconic Wankhede Stadium, playing for Bombay against Gujarat, Tendulkar scored a century and became the youngest Indian to achieve the three-figure mark on a FC debut.
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In fact, during that Ranji Trophy season of 1988-89, he emerged to be the highest run-getter for Bombay, scoring 583 runs at an average of 67.77.
A year later in November 1989, he went on to make his international debut against Pakistan in Karachi, under the captaincy of Krishnamachari Srikkanth and alongside some great names in Indian Cricket in Kapil Dev, Ravi Shastri, Manoj Prabakar, Mohammad Azharuddin et al.
Dilip Vengsarkar once exclaimed 15-year-old Sachin Tendulkar was the strongest in Bombay’s team
It was former team India batter and then Bombay Ranji team captain Dilip Vengsarkar, who decided to make way for Sachin’s FC debut, after he was reportedly quite comfortable whilst facing India’s best bowler during that period – Kapil Dev.
Also, Vengsarkar was impressed by the young teenager for possessing the sheer strength in his arms, which was second to none in the entire Bombay squad.
“He had so much strength in his arms and hands that none of us could beat him at arm wrestling,” remarked Vengsarkar.
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The same was also confirmed by Tendulkar’s childhood friend from school Ricky Couto. “Sachin used to play panja (arm wrestling) game. Till today nobody has been able to beat him from our group. Kambli (Vinod) also stood no chance. Sachin used to play with me opingo-betingo (a fistful children’s game). I might have had fights with Sachin more than the runs he has scored while playing opingo-betingo. He used to really give a hard punch,” Ricky had remarked.
On his FC debut against Gujarat, when a reluctant Vengsarkar decided to send Sachin in with only four deliveries left in the day’s play, the fearless 15-year-old finished the session by smashing four Fours in all different part of the ground.
